Chapter 1289

Mandy spotted Josefina and rushed over, grabbing her by the arm.

Percy jumped in, worried Mandy might accidentally hurt Josefina. He caught Mandy's arm, but since she'd sprinted so fast, the sudden stop sent her stumbling right into Percy's chest.

For a moment, the two of them were pressed together. Mandy's eyes went wide with shock, like a startled little animal.

Josefina took in the scene-Mandy practically glued to Percy, the air between them sparkling with an almost cartoonish sweetness. Why did this look so... shippable?

Mandy blinked, a little dazed by what just happened.

Wait, what?

Flustered, she quickly pulled herself out of Percy's arms, cheeks burning.

Percy looked just as awkward, his face bright red. "You were running so fast, Mandy.

I didn't want you to crash into Josie," he explained, his voice shaky.

Mandy stared at him for a second, realization dawning. So he wasn't worried about me getting hurt-he was worried about Josie?

She glanced back and forth between them, suddenly seeing things in a new light.

Josefina raised an eyebrow, amused. "Mandy, what's got you in such a panic?” Mandy, still buzzing with excitement, almost bounced on her toes. "Major news! Huge! Percy's experiment worked! We actually transferred someone's memories into a clone-it's real!"

Josefina's eyes widened. "I need to see this for myself."

Percy handed her a protective suit. "Here, put this on first, Josie."

Josefina didn't argue, pulling the suit on over her clothes. Double protection-better safe than sorry.

Inside the lab-

The Dominic clone was lying on the examination table, looking perfectly healthy— nothing like the frail test subjects they'd seen before.

As soon as he saw Josefina in her protective gear, his emotions exploded.

"Josefina! Let me go!"

She stared him down, cool and unimpressed. "Aren't you supposed to be smart? Why would I let you go after everything that's happened?”

Mandy crossed her arms. “Settle down, or I'll send you to solitary."

The Dominic clone went silent, immediately giving up any resistance.

Percy spoke up, "I followed your plan to the letter. The experiment worked. Whoever pulled off the first Dominic clone probably did it the same way. They re identical—there's no way to tell them apart."

Josefina pressed, "What about blood tests and DNA? Did you check everything? Is it really the same?"

Percy nodded. "Yep, everything matches. It's all the same person."

Mandy shook her head, a little stunned. "No wonder this kind of research is banned

back home. If maniacs ever figured this out, the world would be chaos."

You wouldn't know who was real and who wasn't. There'd be no peace, ever.

Percy agreed. “But the process is crazy difficult. It took us a month just to crack the basics. No way most people could pull this off."

Geniuses like Josefina only came around once in a lifetime.

Mandy, usually just a bystander, felt a wave of gratitude that Josefina had brought her in. As a fellow scientist, this was exactly the kind of research she'd always dreamed of doing.

The Dominic clone let out a harsh laugh. "You think you can master the core tech? Keep dreaming You just got lucky this time. Don't expect it to work again."

His taunting echoed through the lab, souring Josefina's mood on the spot.

Pregnant and already on edge, Josefina's glare could have cut glass.

Mandy quietly handed her a black baton—the lab's not-so-secret weapon for stubborn subjects like this one.

Josefina didn't even hesitate. She raised the baton and brought it down hard on the clone's thigh.

There was a crackle and a sharp jolt. The Dominic clone jerked, his face twisting with pain.